eBay

somanypostcards · ‎10-18-2021

On Aug. 28, 2021 I launched an Order Discount promotion offering 20% 3 or more items purchased. All the fixed price items in my store were included in this promotion.

Today a buyer let me know she didn't get the 20% discount. When I checked the 5 items in her order I found two eBay errors:

1. There was NO discount given this buyer.

2. When I clicked on each of the 5 items purchased, only 3 showed the 20% discount on the item listing.

somanypostcards · ‎10-18-2021

I just got off the phone after a long call with Customer Service. The Service Request number for these two issues is: 1-392330922848. I was told this is a known issue, but they don't know whether it is an eBay issue or a seller account issue. They will get back to me within 24 - 48 hours, and if they do get back to me I'll post here.

somanypostcards · ‎10-19-2021

So far eBay has not gotten back to me on the above 2 issues. However today I encountered 2 new issues with this order, so I called Customer Service again. The new issues are:

1. I refunded the buyer $1.45, the overcharge since eBay did not show the 20% promotion order discount on 2 listings and did not provide the seller with the 20% order discount shown on 3 listings. The seller was overcharged $1.45 and I was overcharged $.17 (i.e. FVF 0.0177 x $1.45 = $.17). I was told eBay only gives FVF refunds on FULL refunds, not on partial refunds. I said this was inexcusable and unacceptable.

The customer service rep suggested that I change all my listings by lowering the fixed price by 20% and to NOT use the Seller Hub Promotions of Order Discounts (extra 20% off 3 or more items.) I asked why eBay offered an order discount promotion if it shouldn't be used. I also explained I offered this discount to encourage combined sales. 3 separate sales costs $.90 in transaction fees vs. 1 sale of 3 or more different items costs $.30 in transaction fees.

2. This order appears on the "Manage orders awaiting shipment" as "Partially refunded" and does not show a ship by date. When I click "Mark as shipped" it is NOT removed from "Manage orders awaiting shipment."

The customer service rep had me check the small box in front of this order and go to the top to click on:

Shipping -> Mark as shipped. This did NOT remove the order. Next he had me clear cookies, re-sign on, and try to Mark as shipped. It still did NOT remove the order. The CS rep said this was an IT issue, and he opened a request to fix this glitch. The Service Request number is 1-393263782766.

somanypostcards · ‎10-20-2021

Though I was told I would get a call back from Customer Service within 24-48 hours, I did NOT get a call back. I knew I wouldn't. Hopefully I won't get a late shipping defect for this order which I mailed on time but cannot remove from Orders awaiting shipment though I click Mark as shipped many times each day. It just sits there.

somanypostcards · ‎10-24-2021

Today 3 of my 5 sales contained 3+ listings and should have gotten the Seller hub promotion "Price Discount" of an extra 20% off 3+. eBay did NOT provide this discount on these 3 orders. Now I have to provide a partial discount, notify the sellers of the refunds, and apologize for this inexcusable error.

The first order contained 4 postcards sold for $1.00 each, and they all showed the "extra 20% off 3+" on the listings. The seller was overcharged $.80, but I had to issue a $1.00 refund because eBay's refund page does not allow for an entry of less than $1.00.

The second order contained 12 postcards, all of which should have shown the "extra 20% off 3+" on the listings, but only 4 did.

The third order contains 3 postcards sold for $1.00 each, all of which should have show the "extra 20% off 3+" on the listings, but only 2 did. The seller was overcharged $.60, but I will have to issue a refund of $1.00 because eBay's refund page does not let me enter $.60.

When I go to my store home page there are now 293 listings but NO indication of an order discount promotion. If I click on a listing that shows the discount, there is a link to "See all eligible items and terms." Clicking on this results in 293 listings, but some do NOT show the discount, though all should show it.

A marketing platform should NEVER make major billing errors such as this! If made and reported, billing errors should have the HIGHEST priority for correction. However this a known error on Oct. 18 when I called Customer Support, and the status of a fix still remains in limbo. I consider this totally unacceptable and would like eBay to let me either cancel or downgrade my store without paying a penalty to do so.

somanypostcards · ‎10-26-2021

I called Customer Support today about eBay not giving discounts to buyers for Promotion Type of Order Discount. So far I've had 4 orders where the buyers should have gotten the "Extra 20% off 3+ items" which is (or at least should be) displayed on all my 293 fixed price items. This is similar to bait and switch, except that the buyer expects a lower price but is charged a higher price for the same items, not switched lower value items. I believe it is illegal.

eBay has known about this problem since April, 2021. It is occurring both in the USA and the UK. Upon my request, the customer service rep gave me the 2 open ticket numbers reporting this issue. The April ticket number is INC 000004210645 and the August number is INC 000004747514. I've been added to one of these.

I asked that this issue be given the highest priority to be fixed, since the error has existed for 7 months and is likely making sales that should be applying this discount illegal due to their "bait and switch" nature.

somanypostcards · ‎10-26-2021

Rather than put my store on vacation until this is fixed, I am ending the order discount promotion on all my Fixed Price listings. I suggest other sellers do not use this promotion until this error is fixed and eBay starts giving the discount. The problem is I am almost positive that eBay will not let us know when this egregious, probably illegal billing error is fixed since they have never announced that there is a problem in the first place.

somanypostcards · ‎10-27-2021

@somanypostcards wrote:
So far eBay has not gotten back to me on the above 2 issues. However today I encountered 2 new issues with this order, so I called Customer Service again. The new issues are:

1. I refunded the buyer $1.45, the overcharge since eBay did not show the 20% promotion order discount on 2 listings and did not provide the seller with the 20% order discount shown on 3 listings. The seller was overcharged $1.45 and I was overcharged $.17 (i.e. FVF 0.0177 x $1.45 = $.17). I was told eBay only gives FVF refunds on FULL refunds, not on partial refunds. I said this was inexcusable and unacceptable.

The customer service rep suggested that I change all my listings by lowering the fixed price by 20% and to NOT use the Seller Hub Promotions of Order Discounts (extra 20% off 3 or more items.) I asked why eBay offered an order discount promotion if it shouldn't be used. I also explained I offered this discount to encourage combined sales. 3 separate sales costs $.90 in transaction fees vs. 1 sale of 3 or more different items costs $.30 in transaction fees.

2. This order appears on the "Manage orders awaiting shipment" as "Partially refunded" and does not show a ship by date. When I click "Mark as shipped" it is NOT removed from "Manage orders awaiting shipment."

The customer service rep had me check the small box in front of this order and go to the top to click on:
Shipping -> Mark as shipped. This did NOT remove the order. Next he had me clear cookies, re-sign on, and try to Mark as shipped. It still did NOT remove the order. The CS rep said this was an IT issue, and he opened a request to fix this glitch. The Service Request number is 1-393263782766.

This order NEVER got removed from my Orders awaiting shipment even though the order number showed it as shipped. Yesterday a CS rep told me to archive the order. I did so, and that did remove it from Orders awaiting shipment, but it also exposed yet another eBay glitch. The order vanished in eBay's black hole. It does NOT show up under archived.